S&P Hits Level 3 With Lowered Rating

A day after announcing it’s trying to raise $400 million with a tender offer, Level 3 Communications Inc.(LVLT) got bad news from Wall Street.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Tuesday lowered its corporate credit rating on Level 3 to 'CC' from 'B-'.

Analysts said they were responding to negative implications following Level 3's announcement of “below par” cash tender offers for debt problems related to certain convertible notes.

"The reason for the CreditWatch placement is that we will need to evaluate the credit impact of alternative efforts to refinance problematic 2010 maturities if the proposed tender offer is not consummated," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Susan Madison.